Thread: 6.0 quake strikes South Island NZ

1 hour after a 5.2 shock Christchurch (Canterbury area)experiences a 6.0 earthquake

About 2 hours ago
Info is limited
some buildings have collapsed

Christchurch hit by swarm of earthquakes
Monday Jun 13, 2011


A series of earthquakes have struck Christchurch this afternoon.
Photo / Tim Kelleher

Several people have been confirmed injured in a swarm of earthquakes that have struck Christchurch this afternoon, with more than half a dozen shakes causing damage all around the city.

The largest earthquake, a 6.0, struck at about 2.20pm.

The first shake hit at 1pm and was a magnitude 5.5 quake, but there have been four other minor earthquakes over the afternoon.

At least six people are injured and there have been reports of building collapses after the quakes, although there have been no reports of any serious injuries.

Sumner residents have been asked to self-evacuate for their own safety, the National Crisis centre has been activated, power has been cut to tens of thousands of residents and liquefaction has been reported all over the city.

The quakes

The first earthquake to hit Canterbury today struck near Darfield, but the remaining quakes have all been centred to the east of the city.

After the first 5.5 magnitude earthquake at 1pm, there was a 4.4 at 1.08pm, a 3.4 at 1.28pm, the 6.0 shake at 2.20pm, a 4.9 at 2.40pm and a 3.7 shake at 3.08pm.

The large quakes were felt as far away as Wellington and Invercargill, and caused further destruction in Christchurch.

Damage reports

Today's swarm of quakes has seen the scarred city suffer further damage:

* The Christchurch Airport terminal has reopened, but runway checks are continuing. Passengers should expect delays and contact their airlines for flight information.

* A bridge has reportedly come down following the magnitude 6.0 quake - believed to possibly be on Gayhurst Road, Avonside.

* The Old Waimakariri bridge, Moorhouse Ave overbridge, Gloucester/Gayhurst bridge and Anzac Ave bridge are all closed.

* The Merivale Mall has also been closed and the central police station has been evacuated.

* The historic Lyttelton Timeball Station - which suffered significant damage in the February 22 earthquake - has collapsed.

* Two people were rescued from the St John Church on Hereford and Madras streets, but they are not believed to be seriously injured.

* A unit on the corner of Stanmore and Worcester St collapsed, but rescue workers found no casualties.

* There have been reports of liquefaction bubbling up from the ground in the central Christchurch suburb of Richmond and the outer suburbs.

* Rocks have been seen falling from the hills in Sumner.

* Water has been reported pouring out of buildings on Stanmore Road.

Power and phone

Power and phone services have been cut around Christchurch.

The earthquake has impacted both the cellphone and landline network. Telecom says it is assessing any potential network impact.

Telecom is also urging customers to text word messages, rather than pictures or video, and to limit voice calls to help conserve load on the network.

Telecom said there was some evidence of overloading on its network "as you would expect when there has been a decent shake".

Orion NZ says power has been cut to around 54,000 customers across Christchurch following the magnitude 6 earthquake.

Orion reports Spreydon, Sumner, Redcliffs, Heathcote, New Brighton, Dallington, Fendalton and St Albans have all been affected by power cuts.

Orion advises people in the eastern suburbs who have no power to prepare for a night without power.

Emergency management

The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management has activated the National Crisis Management Centre following today's major aftershocks.

National controller, David Coetzee, said the response to the aftershocks is being managed from the Christchurch City Council's Emergency Operations Centre.

The police headquarters and the offices of the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority have been evacuated.

Eastern update

Christchurch East MP Aaron Gilmore said he drove from his office to his home in his electorate after the 5.5 magnitude quake.

He said the areas which were heavily hit by liquefaction after the February 22 earthquake - Parklands, New Brighton, Bexley, Aranui - once again have flooded streets.

"There is mud, liquefaction water and potholes all along the streets that have already been repaired in the last few months.

"The poor guys who have been doing all that work - well they're out there already.

"It is pretty serious."

He said the magnitude 6 quake felt much stronger.

"There will certainly be some injuries from these quakes - hopefully there are no major serious injuries."

Stronger 'peak ground acceleration'

GNS Science seismologist Jennifer Coppola said the first earthquake would have felt stronger than last Monday's 5.5 magnitude aftershock, as it had a stronger peak ground acceleration.

Ms Coppola said GNS Science had forecast between one and 10 aftershocks between magnitude 4 and 4.9, and between zero and two larger than magnitude 5 for Canterbury between May 19 and June 18.

"So we've hit the magnitude 5 and above number - hopefully there are no more."

nzherald.co.nz

Uploaded by maxplatinum on 12 Jun 2011

Christchurch Quake June 13th #EQNZ Liquefaction and damage . The Whole place is just stuffed, it really is mate.

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on 12 Jun 2011

Chch aftershocks turn my mums street and Avondale road into rivers once again


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Uploaded by incomecreater on 12 Jun 2011

This video was uploaded from an Android phone.


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No water here in Linwood (close to city centre) & still shaking fuck it all! I have power about 56,000 do not. At least I can do something about cooking tea. Had "kept" 4l of water in the fridge so ok for a few coffees...

Sorry to read about this, especially with such destruction having taken place already.

Take comfort from the fact that you are edging ever closer to Australia.

the 5.5 was bad enough ,,, but the 6.0 came out of nowhere.
And almost a full moon too.

Hopefully we can get some sleep tonight,

On the other hand phun, it does look a nice day and I hope every one is safe, (except for that prick Beardsley who 47 yrs ago, whacked me in the back of the head with a piece of wood, from behind, just for trying to shag his girlfriend)

nice sunny day after a mild frost, same again tomorrrow., hopefully without the double wammy.

Originally Posted by phunphin

the 5.5 was bad enough ,,, but the 6.0 came out of nowhere.
And almost a full moon too.

Hopefully we can get some sleep tonight,

There's a Lunar eclipse at 20:22GMT on Wednesday. Perhaps there's a big one coming.

Originally Posted by Thormaturge

Take comfort from the fact that you are edging ever closer to Australia.

I'll put that to Jetstar that they should refund part of the fare I've paid them to get me to LOS, fly via Melbourne & Singapore to get there

Originally Posted by peterpan

On the other hand phun, it does look a nice day and I hope every one is safe, (except for that prick Beardsley who 47 yrs ago, whacked me in the back of the head with a piece of wood, from behind, just for trying to shag his girlfriend)

Lucky you were only trying I guess...

What part of the city are you in Phunphin? Was it you that was in St Albans?

Timball Station after the magnitude-6 earthquake

more aerial photos here

yes, i'm in st albans,, quite a bit of flooding and sand volcanoes around.and damaged roads again.

Frightening night as tremors continue to rock Christchurch
June 14

Prime Minster John Key is urging quake-hit Christchurch residents not to give up hope and leave the city permanently.
Two earthquakes measuring magnitude 5.5 and 6.0 struck yesterday, collapsing buildings, leaving homes without power and water, and causing widespread liquefaction.
The quakes brought the damaged city to a standstill, opening sinkholes in roads, flooding streets and bursting pipes.
"But ultimately the damage at the moment is to the confidence of the people of Christchurch, who wanted this nightmare to end, and for them to be on a much firmer footing and to be going back to reality," Key told TV3's Firstline programme.
Key's words came as a team of engineers this morning entered the red zone to re-check all city-centre buildings, following the quakes.
Dozens of buildings sustained more damage yesterday and as many as another 50 buildings would have to be demolished.



Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) interim deconstruction manager Warwick Isaacs said several inner-city buildings had collapsed in the magnitude 6.0 aftershock, including some that were previously undamaged.
The 26-storey Grand Chancellor and the Harcourts building had new damage and several significant buildings appeared to be on a lean.

Read more and photo gallery

On top of the obvious destruction, the mental anguish the people of Christchurch must be going through is a big concern. Their stress/anxiety levels were prolly just begining to drop, and now this

Originally Posted by genghis61

Frightening night as tremors continue to rock Christchurch
June 14

Prime Minster John Key is urging quake-hit Christchurch residents not to give up hope and leave the city permanently.

Too late for me pal! I bought my ticket back in April - only 7 weeks to go. I'm not going because of these quakes & living in all the mess, but I wont miss them when I go. A difficult decision for me with my kids aged 15, 13, & 11 staying here with their mother. In future my only planned visits to Chch & NZ will be for their birthdays.

Those quakes have now been revised to 5.6 & 6.3 (currently anyway)

This site Canterbury Quake Live shows all the "events" we've had